100 years of Dali
When we lived in D.C. we frequently rode the Metro down to the Mall, lunched on the steps of the National Gallery of Art (ah, the refinement of a good brown bag lunch), and then visited our favorite art piece: Dali's The Sacrament of the Lord's Supper. The oversized canvas hung not in the central position of a large, well lit gallery of modern Spanish art, but at the side of an information desk in a small room off a main hallway. The limited space near the painting created a challenge -- it was difficult to back up and take in the entire canvas at once. In retrospect, perhaps the close proximity to the painting that we were forced to maintain helped to create an intimacy that one feels when encountering the piece. Each character, each angle, each unusual detail and contrast could be examine 'up close and personal.' Thus, a relationship with an artwork began.
The Last Supper drew me in theologically, artistically, and even mathmatically. Dali stated that this was an "arithmetic and philosophical cosmogony based on the paranoiac sublimity of the number twelve...the pentagon contains microcosmic man: Christ"
Yes.
Why does Dali still delight? the BBC News asks, perhaps because his work allows us to see life from a different, 'surreal' perspective.
Over 500 of Dali's wide and varied works are currently offered at the
County Hall Gallery in London.
The Dalí Universe, a retrospective of Salvador Dalí, the greatest surrealist, self-publicist and creative genius of the twentieth century. The works are 'presented with Dalí-inspired style and flair in a dreamlike labyrinth of galleries, the Dalí Universe places viewers in the heart of a surreal fantasyland. The exhibition unravels the master's mind with precision and creativity.'
Look for the link midway down the page gallery's website of those works currently on display. The slideshow highlights 'Horse saddled with Time' and his 'Divine Comedy: Purgatory' among the offerings.
It seems an art trip to London is in order.
